


What Lays in the Heart of a Sweaty Asshole Blueblood

by grimBleeper_Arcas_Corricol



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Black-Red Vacillation, F/M, Flush Crush, Hair Washing, Hemospectrum, Mutation, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Pre-Sgrub, Robots, SGRUB, shower scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4578099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimBleeper_Arcas_Corricol/pseuds/grimBleeper_Arcas_Corricol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the process which Equius goes through to build Aradia's robot body is slightly romanticized and a bit of a view of what Equius did pre-Sgrub</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Lays in the Heart of a Sweaty Asshole Blueblood

Equius decaptchalogued a towel, wiping it across his face for the fifty-second time before throwing it into the ever growing pile behind him, slowly building up a mountain of towels, damp with deep blue sweat. He was standing crouched over his workbench, pieces of metal and wiring scattered around, an alarm rang out and he straightened up and turned out of the room. Nepeta had been jumping around, keeping herself busy by expending her excess energy through bouncing around, at Equius leaving, Nepeta tagged along, she knew what had to be done and it wasn’t pretty. This was one of Equius’ largest projects and as his moirail, she couldn’t let him do it himself.

As Equius sat in the large metal chair, Nepeta ensured that he was properly strapped in, the leather straps covering bulging muscles but not cutting off circulation. She pulled once on each strap and then put the metal restraints in, turning the bolts as an extra precaution. Equius flexed, just to make sure that he wouldn’t be able to escape and when one of the cuffs lifted off the armrest along with his forearm, he gave an apologetic smile to Nepeta before bringing out one of his spares. Nepeta screwed it in, satisfied that he was secure, she pulled out a damp cloth to wipe down one of Equius’ arms, both to prevent infection and to prevent him from sweating into the syringe.

Nepeta pushed the needle into Equius’ arms, still careful not to hurt him but Equius didn’t flinch at the perforation of his flesh. She pulled back the plunger, extracting the syringeful of dark blue blood. She patted Equius’ shoulder before repeating it and by the fifth time, his arm had gone slightly limp, whether from blood loss or from just the constant relaxing, Nepeta didn’t know. Equius kept stony faced throughout the whole process, making sure not to agitate his blood pressure too much, shooting bows, nocking bows, shooting bows, nocking bows, he withdrew into his own imagination to keep himself calm. He heard Nepeta’s voice calling to him and he was shocked back into reality, he looked over at Nepeta who had finished extracting approximately a litre of his blood.

He tipped his head back as Nepeta poured a glass of milk down his throat, he was thankful for this as he would normally just break the glass and Arthour wasn’t here anymore for him, rest his soul. None of their sprites just seemed to be around anymore, they were probably stuck back in their universe, floating around and in the case of Arthour, just being the best darned butler there ever was. Equius pushed himself out of the chair with his right arm and immediately fell against the wall, woozy from blood loss, he was slightly light headed and Nepeta wriggled under his arm to support him, she wasn’t as strong as Arthour but she could carry him if she had to and Equius was thankful for that. Equius was wary not too apply pressure to Nepeta to make sure he wouldn’t just crush the greenblood’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Nepeta” he murmured as they got to his recuperacoon, “No purroblem, Equius! Make sure you rest purroperly, ok? It would be as you say _very foolish_ if you were to get up and fall straight over” Nepeta tried to deepen her voice to match Equius’. Equius managed a polite smile at the impersonation before sinking into the sopor slime, Nepeta didn’t know how long this was going to go but she would make sure that Equius didn’t die trying, that definitely wasn’t on her agenda, she looked back one last time at the recuperacoon before running off into the recesses of the meteor, exploring the unknown depths.

The green slime inside the recuperacoon was slightly warm against Equius’ skin, it surrounded him completely as he rested at the bottom, his eyes were closed and all he could see was the darkness, this should be the last time that he would have to extract blood, he had already had enough on hand for medical emergencies but didn’t dare use his reserves. The 10 or so litres he had withdrawn in the past weeks should be enough for Aradia’s new body. The schematic were perfect, everything optimised for efficiency and sheer strength, not a piece would be out of place, he knew that his assurances could never cover every extenuating circumstance but trying was still better than nothing. His drifted off to the memories of what Nepeta and Aradia sounded like, this would all be worth it, he told himself.

The world faded back into existence at the sound of Nepeta kicking the side of the recuperacoon, Equius warily stood up, careful not to splash sopor everywhere or smash straight through the recuperacoon. He grabbed the towel hanging over the side of the recuperacoon and wiped down his hair, “Good morning, Nepeta” he said as he wrung his hair out, “Off to the ablution block with you meowster, you’re still sticky with slime!” Equius still had slime dripping down his hair and quickly crossed the room to the ablution block, shrugging off his muscle shirt and entering the shower. He let the water cascade down him, he didn’t let it get too hot but as Nepeta entered after him, he sat down on the stool. Nepeta turned up the heat due to her increased body heat and Equius was thankful that the water had slightly cooled by the time it reached him.

Careful not to pull to hard, Nepeta threaded her hands through Equius’ hair, making sure to wash out most of the green slime, Equius kept still, familiar with the standard procedure. Nepeta nudged Equius’ head forward, keeping it out of the water before she squirted some shampoo into her hand and started kneading Equius’ scalp, making sure to cover all of his hair. She continued scrubbing as Equius rested his elbows on his knees, he stared into the foggy mirror as he enjoyed just having a moirail to take care of him. Nepeta cupped Equius’ chin and pulled him back to the stream of the water before washing out the suds, she kissed the top of his head before going to wash herself, Equius just watched as the water vapour rose from the floor, fogging up the glass.

When Nepeta tapped Equius on the shoulder, telling him that she was done, Equius stood up with Nepeta’s arms wrapped around him as he exited the shower, Equius went to his wardrobe as he withdrew another muscle shirt and put it horn, careful not to shred the collar of it. He pulled on another pair of leggings and shorts and then went to his worktable, Nepeta waved goodbye and once again left to do whatever she wanted to do. Equius resumed hunching over the workbench, carefully screwing together sockets and joints, making sure every ball bearing was lubricated, he knew that this project required all of his attention but if he didn’t do it, who could?

Hours passed and the average sweat level in the room killed itself fivefold over its increases, the pile had reasserted its dominance in its corner of the room, all parts that were there previously, completely enveloped. Equius had finally completed each individual part and all that was left to put it all together, he carefully drew every wire throughout the body before socketing in the limbs, lightly swivelling them to make sure they each had their full degrees of motion. The head was the last to go on, red eyes empty and dull without a soul to activate the robot. He had tried to make it as like Aradia’s body as he could, even if he would never have the power to properly bring her back to life, he would give her the best possible facsimile.

Before the last step, there was the uranium battery, a rare find Nepeta had obtained when she happened upon a crashed spaceship of Her Imperial Condescension, the battery was designed to last for centuries and its design made it a very safe and efficient power source. He opened up a hatch on the right side of Aradia’s robot body before slotting the wires into it and making sure that it was latched securely in the inside of the chassis. Finally, he opened up where the heart would be and flicked aside a plug and went to the small tank of blood, he connected the blue hose to the plug before turning the pump on, causing the deep blue blood to slide into Aradia’s robot body, filling the artificial veins to the brim.

His project was finally completed, he didn’t really take long to finish it but it was definitely the proudest moment of his life, it was absolute mechanical perfection and it would probably never be dethroned as the pinnacle of prosthetic technology. A shard of chipped tooth fell out as he fully grinned, relieved that it was a success before collapsing onto his behind, sitting on the floor, he rocked backwards until he was lying on his back and pumped both fists into the air. Though he found the action slightly silly, and he chastised himself mentally for it, this was a victory and a victory well-deserved.

\---

Equius spun on his heel, raising his arm to block the incoming metal knife hand, he pivoted around, hair waving behind him as he backhanded the robot’s head straight off the body, the head tumbled a few times before its horns stabbed into another robot. He was glad that there were still more robots advancing though as he ducked under another robot coming at him with a bladekind and came back up in a rising uppercut, he realised he had put too much force into it as he floated for a second and a club came from the corner of his eye into his grubscars, punting him across the room. He picked himself up off the floor, working his arm to clear his mind of pain before pushing off the floor and rocketed through the crowd of robots before tackling one on the other side.

He sank his fist through its chest, thoroughly mangling what would’ve been an assortment of organs before flinging the robot corpse into the crowd, though one toppled under it, they kept advancing, some moving in accordance with one another, advancing as a solid metal of wall while others darted around, trying to flank him. He blocked a spear that was thrust at him with his forearm, pushing it to the side and jumped over the flail that threatened to trip him, he looped the flail around his other arm, ignoring the beads of blood that emerged from the skin cut by the spikes, he pulled and whipped the robot over his head and into the one wearing a spear.

He realised that he had been backed into a wall and flicked the spear from the ground up into his outstretched hand before throwing it straight into the crowd, not aiming but just hoping that he at least got something. He darted to the side and then headed around the crowd, he pressed down on one robot’s head, caving in its skull with the force of the blow, and somersaulted over the robot and when he landed he flung it in an overhead motion, carving a path for him. A robot had been hiding in the shadows and lunged at him but Equius caught one of its outstretched arms before breaking it over his knee and then punched in its head.

Though the masses didn’t seem to thin, Equius was sure that he would emerge victorious, as he stepped forward into a medium stance, he was forced to sidestep a spear but slipped on his sweat and sprawled to his side in a tangle of limbs. He scrambled forward before charging through the robots until he knelt on the other side, having bull-rushed through many of the remaining robots, he revealed a chipped and broken smile, eager to dispatch the remaining robots.

\---

As Equius swept together all the robots, he thought about his actions, analysing his fight, there were many opportunities to improve, a dodge could have had more of a lunge forward to close the distance faster, a block could have been more solid to stop himself being pushed back, his stance could’ve been a bit tighter to more efficiently block and his footwork definitely needed work if he was to go fast enough for what he did. Violence was a part of Alternia as much as he hated it, trolls were not by nature, gentle beings, they would squabble and fight, they would hate and hurt but they, like the musclebeast, were also capable of great feats. Showing compassion and honour was important, showing physical and mental dexterity was a way to come out on top of your opponents and being extremely strong tended to be a good thing.

He wondered if trolls could properly coexist, if the hemospectrum didn’t exist and everyone just got along, the highbloods taking care instead of oppressing and culling the lowbloods but this was impossible in the current world. Law, order and hierarchy were important though and maybe it was better to have such despotic rule if it meant relative peace, the stories of the Sufferer’s and the Summoner’s rebellions were widely told, though not always believed but Equius knew better, he knew that those mythical figures had existed and shaped Alternia through their beliefs and actions. He had killed before, a blueblood, with a darker blue than his, had ambushed him near Nepeta’s forest and he had caught his hand and broken the forearm with a casual twitch, he had slammed the body into the ground multiple times and left it to the native fauna before absconding.

That had been one of the last times that he had ever gone out, killing wasn’t something that he loved like the other highbloods but it was something he was extremely good at, the implications of this would be drastic if the adults found out by the time he had finished his second pupation and joined Her Imperial Condescension’s army. Life was a beautiful thing and though Equius was hesitant to publicly reveal what he thought, he preferred healing and creating rather than destroying, contrary to his more animalistic impulses. Sollux had contacted him the day before and Equius hadn’t exactly been the most polite to him, the hemospectrum was deeply ingrained into him but he felt sorry for Sollux, having to see his matesprit’s broken and battered body, cradling it as he wept, knowing that he had killed her and couldn’t do anything about it, not being able to seek retribution.

Equius had never had a matesprit but he didn’t know what he could do without Nepeta’s stabilising influence, gods help whatever stood between him and his target. A tear leaked out of the corner of his eye as he imagined what Nepeta would look like dead, never moving again, never with the spark of curiosity and playfulness that she carried wherever she went. Equius’ grip tightened, crushing the broom, crushing the handle into a twig and then snapping it, he flung it into the pile of crumpled metal before decaptchaloguing another one.

The game that Sollux had told him about was catastrophic, he had been chosen to live while all the others died, he didn’t know or like many people but the loss of life was something he would have to deal with if he was to move on. Sollux, though he was a lowblood, was incredibly intelligent and was someone Equius genuinely respected, Sollux was said to be able to hear the voices of those who would soon die and Equius couldn’t even begin to imagine how someone could handle the psychic strain. He was no psionic after all and knew that if a highblood ever received psionic powers, they would be more of a danger than a help, Vriska was a prime example and if Gamzee ever became sober, he was certain that a fully sober Gamzee would usher in a new age, like the legendary Grand Highblood. Vriska was … infuriating, she had none of the decorum of Equius and even Gamzee had more manners than she did, even if he swore whenever he could. Vriska was uncontrollable and used her status to dominate others, taking away their free will in a completely disgusting way, she believed that she was so superior to everyone else and Equius found this unfortunate, she never had exhibited such mannerisms when Equius had acted as her moirail, but he was content to just have a fond memory and a distant respect for her conviction.

\---

Equius rushed to a window as he saw the meteors hurtling through the atmosphere, he knew Aradia was working as quickly as she could to set down the many devices that Sburb had provided them but he still wished that could go faster. A meteor hurtled towards him directly but the world went white before transporting into the Medium. This new environment and background was exciting, the colours were very dark and the caves beckoned to him, he would have to bring Nepeta here if he ever had time, he dashed up the stairs, taking them three at a time before arriving at the roof.

He looked into the portal rotating above his house before walking backwards a few steps before springing forward and jumping with all his might into the Spirograph. His immediate surroundings blurred into lines of vague colours as he rushed through, trying to find the second gate, he spotted it hovering in the sky before launching into it as well.

Aradia’s ghost waited for him and he decaptchalogued the body, eager to present it to her. She didn’t know about how it worked, what the mechanics were behind it, but she knew the dead, those who knew things the living couldn’t, told her to inhabit it, if this was what it took to further the timeline, who was she to deny it. As her sprite form moved into the space where the robot was, the robot seemed to glow red before the luminescence was sucked into the body, the red eyes lighting up. It was indescribable, being in a body that you had never gotten used to, the way how everything had so much force behind it, every finger flexing could crush stone, every fist break steel, and the blood, so much rage, so much instability.

So this was what it felt like to be a highblood, it was … disgusting, those weren’t the only emotions she was feeling though, she felt something invading her mind, something within the body. When she cried out, she didn’t expect her voice to be so metallic, so modulated and she thrashed around psychically, “WHAT DID YOU DO, WHAT DID YOU DO, WHAT DID YOU DO?” small rocks levitated off the ground, Equius’ hair lifted off his shoulders. She probed her surroundings, trying to find the thing which was interfering with her thoughts and found it, a small chip, lying in her heart.

She shoved her fist straight through her chest, blue blood leaking around the wound when she withdrew it and pulled it back to punch herself again, crushing the chip, “MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, EQUIUS?” still with her arm partially stuck in her chest, she backhanded Equius with the other, a small crack being elicited from his jaw, she took out her hand to grab onto the collar of his shirt before bringing her arm around to crack against him, Equius didn’t even have the opportunity to turn his head in time with the blows to soften the impact but it was glorious. He didn’t care that his sleazy attempt at a romantic solicitation didn’t work, he didn’t care that his flushcrush was trying to kill him, this was something more powerful than he had ever created but it was probably because this was Aradia piloting the robot herself.

He smiled weakly, the world in a blur as his head was whipped from side to side until Aradia abruptly stopped, crushing her lips against his, biting deep into his lower lip. His first thought was that he had succeeded, that his flushed attractions were being reciprocated but as Aradia drew blood, he realised that this was no flushed embrace but a caliginous display. A part of him felt disappointed at his revelation before he realised he was kissing back, cold metal tongue pressing against his and then he felt the ground hit him and saw Aradia flying away only to wonder how he could’ve messed everything up so much.

**Author's Note:**

> Something that I've just been messing around with in the past two weeks, I quite like Equius' character even though there are definitely some things which irk me (creepy obsessions, hemospectrum worship), sometimes people fixate on how he's an asshole and stuff and yeah, he's a prick to people and what he did to Aradia was undeniably immoral, creepy and disgusting by our standards but he also has his interactions with Nepeta, how he is the only troll to not even try and kill another troll, how he's the closest thing to a vegetarian for moral reasons, he's on two extremes of the spectrum and that's why I like him.


End file.
